An 'exclusive' from SunNation this evening: The Sun can reveal they will include at least two ex-MPs thrown out by voters at the general election three months ago, Lorely Burt and Lynn Featherstone. Three long-serving Lib Dem grandees who stood down as MPs in May - Sir Alan Beith, Sir Menzies Campbell, and Sir Malcolm Bruce - are also being enobled, alongside defeated ex-MEP Sharon Bowles and Mr Clegg's former chief of staff Jonny Oates.The report also says that Danny Alexander and Vince Cable will be knighted.
Earlier this evening, I attended a walkabout round Greater Balgay by the Balgay Stakeholders' Group, which brings together local councillors, council parks/environment department staff and community representatives - in particular Friends of Balgay - to look at issues related to Balgay Park and its surrounds. We had a very useful walk round Greater Balgay, with a number of improvements agreed by the Environment Department representative. This included agreement to tidy up the area round the bandstand, including a repaint of the bandstand itself and tidying up the flower beds.
Total Politics has caught up with the career moves of some of the Liberal Democrat MPs who lost their seats in May. David Laws is now executive chairman of the think tank CentreForum and Steve Webb is now director of policy and external communications at Royal London, the mutual insurance and pensions company. Other MPs have relaunched themselves as consultants. Total Politics lists Jeremy Browne (who stood down before the election) among them, but a recent report in City AM had him working as a lobbyist for the City of London in Brussels. I once blogged about the fate of ...
There's a wonderfully thought-provoking piece that's been published on The British Psychological Society's website in the last few days called "Where is psychology's non-stick frying pan?". I'd encourage everyone to read Phil Banyard's article in full, but if you're in a hurry, the beginning reads rather like John Cleese's rant asking "What have the Romans ever done for us" in ...
[IMG: Sandgate Sea and Food Festival 2015 Flyer] The fabulous Sandgate Sea Festival takes place this Sunday! A fun day for all the family! The venue: Granville Parade, Sandgate Times: 11am - 5pm There will be live music throughout the day with: KL Music, vocalist Sarah Jane Hassel, The Saltdash Ukulele Group, Electric Tortoise, Rhonda Merrick (a soul-pop-gospel-jazz singer), the Marching band and a steel band. There will be food to suit everyone: Mexican, Nepalese, seafood, paella, organic vegetarian, bakery, hog roast, ice creams, cakes, candyfloss, teas and coffees etc. All along the seafront, there will be loads of displays ...
The Council is sending out a letter to let people know the details of works to improve the A34 around Stanley Green, Cheadle Hulme. Notification of Works on the A34 from Storeys Way to Stanley Green Roundabout We write to inform you that the appointed contractor for the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road (A6 MARR), Carillion Morgan Sindall (CMS) will be entering the next phase of works, which will involve night works along the A34, from Storeys Way to Stanley Green roundabout. Starting on Tuesday 1st September for 4 nights, we begin installing temporary traffic management. This work will ...
Wed 26th
18:55
Lord Jim Wallace writes: New Lib Dem colleagues will campaign with me to reform House of Lords
It is desperately disappointing that to many people outside Westminster, the impression that they have of the House of Lords is that espoused by the press over the course of this summer following the reported behaviour of Lord Sewel. In the days and weeks that have followed, we have seen many claims that Peers abuse their privileged position by not pulling their weight and not taking seriously the role that they are supposed to perform by virtue of their membership of the Lords. This view is compounded by the fact that no member of the House of Lords has been ...
With next Monday ( August 31st ) being a Bank Holiday, the bin collections in Northumberland are put back a day. So, if you usually have your bins emptied on a Monday, next week it will be Tuesday ( etc) Any problems, please contact Northumberland County Council Next week is a Green Bin week ( ie non-recyclable, general, rubbish )
[IMG: Christine jardine] Christine Jardine put up one hell of a fight against Alex Salmond in the Gordon constituency this year. She got 1500 more votes than Malcolm Bruce had 5 years earlier and is in a very clear second place to challenge the SNP in the future. She has now been selected to fight the Aberdeenshire East constituency in May next year for the Scottish Parliament. The Ellon Times has the story: A delighted Christine said: "Its very humbling to know that people are prepared to put their faith in you. I had a lot of support in the ...
[IMG: The LGA Lib Dems support Liberal Democrat council groups across the country] Haringey Lib Dem Group have recently run a small campaign based on answers to their council's member enquiries around fly-tipping/litter complaints (see below). See here for the press release based the responses. Also, here are some fly-tipping stats with the last column showing the most recent annual change for each authority - (attached) to help [...]
[IMG: ALDC's Campaigning on Crime Pack] Continuing with our 'Campaigning on' series, ALDC are launching their 'Campaigning on Crime' pack. Whilst crime is falling, there are real concerns about the impact on cuts from the Home Office and the effect that this could have on frontline policing in our communities. With the forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and [...]
Corbyn Warnings There's nothing odd about spirited electioneering. But the level of attacks Labour Leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn is enduring is remarkable. From being the rank outsider at something like 100-1 he's now firm favourite. This is despite spirited efforts by old 'New Labour' heavyweights – including two former Prime Ministers and other senior politicians associated with the [...]
[IMG: Disco 2014] One of the highlights of the forthcoming conference, the Lib Dem Disco, has been mocked by the Daily Telegraph. Is there a higher accolade? In an article which includes Paul Walter's video of the Gay Gordons, played by one DJ Cazzie Sparkle (who finished second to winner Alistair Carmichael), but without crediting him for it, it's fair to say that the paper is less than impressed: An attendee of last year's event told The Telegraph: "The music was mostly cheesy pop. It was like a school disco. YMCA, Macarena, Cha cha slide, B*witched were all on the ...
Wed 26th
13:30
Devolution for Merseyside? But on whose terms? – Beware Labour Leaders & Tory Government w...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-34060526 The BBC has the story – see link above Council leaders have agreed to submit a bid for a devolution deal that could pave the way for an elected mayor in the Liverpool City Region. 'We need to come up with a really ambitious package' So what's going to be in the devolution package? Who is going to be consulted about it? Will Joe and Jane Soap here on Merseyside get any chance to have a say on the package before it is sent off to the Tory Government? All we know is that the 6 Labour Council Leaders ...
[IMG: York's winning team.] We recently featured some excellent literature from York showing how they were explaining their decision to run the council to local residents following their excellent results in May. You can read about that here. In an example to us all, the York team are already back out on the doorsteps, calling on local residents. They've [...]
Ways to think about cars The future of motoring. (tags: technology ) I looked at the best evidence for banning prostitution. It's absolutely terrible. Interesting! (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality ) Greek elections: a new opportunity to refresh the political body A view from Athens. (tags: greece )
There's a popular saying here in Brazil that Brazil is the country of the future — and always will be. A few years ago I gave a lecture at the Federal University of Ceara arguing that "Brazilianism" — this collective sardonic attitude to the country's potential — had to be overcome if it was going [...]
[IMG: 5477199654_4c00e42669_m] My press release to the Champion newspaper – sent 23rd August I have been working with Lydiate resident Pat Breckell of Southport Road, Lydiate who has collected a 340 signature petition against Arriva Buses plan to withdraw the 311 bus at the end of August. Pat says "A lot of older people have to attend Ormskirk Hospital and they like to go to Ormskirk Market. My husband attends the hospital regularly and if the bus is withdrawn he will have to get the 231 circular bus to Maghull Station and then a train to Ormskirk as well as ...
[IMG: flybe] The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above Let's hope this new route is a success. I hope I am not just saying that because Edinburgh is one of my favorite places to visit.
[IMG: York swimming pool success] As I wrote on this site previously, here in York we recently entered into a joint administration with the local Conservative group to run the city. This has posed us with the large challenge of ensuring that our distinctive voice is heard locally and that we deliver on our promises to residents at a very difficult time for local government. In the run up to the election we made it a key manifesto promise to protect Yearsley Pool, a valued community facility, from Labour's proposed local cuts. We then also managed to secure this as ...
The wired website reports on the views of the United Nation's newly appointed special rapporteur on privacy, Joseph Cannataci, who says that digital surveillance in the UK as "worse" than anything imagined in George Orwell's novel, 1984. Speaking to the Guardian, Cannataci -- who doesn't own a Facebook account or use Twitter -- lambasted the oversight of British digital surveillance as "a rather bad joke at its citizens' expense". Warning against the steady erosion of privacy and increasing levels of government intrusion, he also drew sinister parallels with Orwell's vision of a mass-surveilled society, adding that today's reality was far ...
Twitter is having one of its more febrile moments over Jeremy Corbyn's plans for women-only train carriages. I actually think that there are reasons to praise Corbyn for floating the idea. First of all, it's pretty good to see a male politician think that the issue of sexual assault on public transport is an important one that we should do something about. Where were the other politicians, including Liberal Democrats, when the statistics showing showing an increase in reported sexual assaults came out last week? Secondly, look at what Corbyn actually said: Some women have raised with me that a ...
[IMG: Taking a step - CC0 Public Domain] What should the rules be for the next Labour leadership election? And what should any other party do when it next thinks about widening engagement in its candidate selections? There's a logical next step, and it's to embrace the virtues of volume and transparency as the solution to entryism. (There's also of course something that doesn't require any changes to be made to any rules: simply for MPs in future to take seriously the filtering role they have in the process, and only to nominate for leader people they think should be ...
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, has had his vote rejected for the Labour leadership contest. He has publicly claimed that he voted Green in 2010 but should that stop him changing your mind? The Labour Party are right to limit voting to supporters but how do they explain this ban? They've also banned other prominent individuals like Jeremy Hardy and Mark Steel. I don't know if these comedians are proven enemies of the Labour Party or whether Labour is trying to rig the election but I get the impression it is the latter. ...
The catastrophic election results have prompted the Lib Dems to undertake a process known as Agenda 2020, 'a party-wide consultation to help inform our policy-making over the next five years. This is a chance for us to have an in-depth discussion about our values and beliefs, and about the challenges the UK is likely to face in the next Parliament.' Earlier in August, a paper published by the Federal Policy Committee offered a definition of the Liberal Democrat philosophy. I was both surprised and impressed that a paper agreed by a committee, especially a committee of liberals, had managed to ...
Wed 26th
08:55International Office welcomes young Liberals from around the world to Autumn Conference
[IMG: International Office_with text] This year, the International Office is bringing a delegation of eight young liberals from around the world to take part in a Youth Leadership Programme, hosted at Party Conference in Bournemouth. Our Youth Leadership Programme aims to develop a diverse group of young activists, and especially young candidates for elected office, with strong leadership and political skills and the capabilities to succeed as future leaders. Participants in this programme come from diverse background and represent liberal parties and groups in Palestine, Egypt, Georgia, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Morocco and Bosnia. They will have the chance to ...
Yesterday afternoon, I attended the City Council's School Parking and Pupil Safety Working Group where there was a detailed discussion about policy on the provision of School Crossing Patrollers. I asked how quickly the very welcome new patroller site at the bottom of City Road next to Milnbank Gardens will be in place. This will be of benefit to many Victoria Park Primary School and St Joseph's Primary School pupils and I was advised it was hoped to have the new School Crossing Patroller in place by the start of term after the October holiday. Yesterday evening, I firstly attended ...
Most people, other than the odd minority of those contending that Labour lost the general election because it was too right-wing, understand what happened in May 2015. Fear won the day. Many of us, buying into the polling until the very day of the election, crushed as a result when that exit poll hit us like a ton of bricks, know exactly what happened. The Tory message regarding what might transpire were a Labour minority government, propped up by the SNP, to come to power, scared the living crap out of a vast number of English voters in key seats. ...
Thanks to generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, an exhibition is currently taking place in the city about Mary Slessor, a centrepiece of the centenary commemorations of her life and work. The exhibition is at Verdant Works @ Scotland's Jute Museum and is free to visit. The main exhibition is already open and runs until 1st November. For more details about Verdant Works, please call 309060. The centenary exhibition tells the story of Mary Slessor's journey from Dundee mill girl to missionary and later magistrate in Calabar. It celebrates her work to improve the lives of the local tribes, ...
Madness. Just madness. So Jeremy Corbyn has been speaking about sexism and he mused that he'd like to consult women about whether they thought the idea of women-only carriages on public transport would be a good idea. I'm pretty sure I could tell him the answer to that but I am a man, no wait, let me rephrase, I am a boy, so maybe I have a viewpoint that doesn't fit with the women of the world but wait, what is this? Every single woman I follow on twitter who has commented on this since the story broke sees the ...
